English as Second Language

taste Text Guide compassion doubting Thomas The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif Najaf Mazari & Robert Hill human race incursion Publications 2010 copyright Insight Publications 2009 First promulgated in 2009 by Insight Publications Pty Ltd ABN 57 005 102 983 219 Glenhuntly Road Elsternwick VIC 3185 Australia Tel +61 3 9523 0044 Fax +61 3 9523 2044 Email emailprotected com. au www. insightpublications. com. u Copying for educational purposes The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of this book, whichever is the greater, to be copied by any(prenominal) educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has give a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) below the Act. For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions collision Copyright Agency Limited Level 19, 157 Liverpool Street Sydney NSW 2000 Tel +61 2 9394 7600 Fax +61 2 9394 7601 Ema il emailprotected com. u Copying for another(prenominal) purposes Except as permitted under the Act (for example, any fair dealings for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review) no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meaning with out(a) prior write leave. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above. theme Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Thomas, Ruth, 1980 Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillmans The rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif insight text guide / Ruth Thomas. 1st ed. 9781921411038 (pbk. ) Insight text guide. Bibliography.For se studydary school age. Mazari, Najaf, 1971 Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif. 325. 2109581 Printed in Australia by Hyde Park Press Insight Publications 2010 gyptents Character typify Overview some the author precis Character summaries iv 1 1 2 3 Background & context Genre, structure & language Chapter-by-chapter analysis Characters & relati onships Themes, ideas & determine Different interpretations Questions & answers Sample answer References & reading 6 11 16 32 40 51 57 65 68 Insight Publications 2010 iv CHARACT ARACTER MAP Hakima Najafs wife, whom he marries when both are 27 stays in Pakistan before joining Najaf in Australia. other of maintain and wife admires Maria Najaf and Hakimas daughter a baby when she is interpreted to Pakistan travels to Australia with Hakima to be reunited with her bring. Gorg Ali Mazari Najafs eldest brother killed by a sniper during a battle between the Russians and the mujahideen. brothers father of Abdul Ali Mazari Becomes read/write head of the family after Gorg Ali is killed. respects Najaf Mazari Afghan rugmaker who ? ees con? ict in his homeland and arrives in Australia as a refugee. helps robin redbreast Closest friend in Australia. helps brothers frustrated by Colin Rug star a close friend in Australia.Rosal Ali Mazari Younger, irresponsible brother killed in a rocket e xplosion. brothers Insight Publications 2010 1 OVERVIEW About the authors Najaf Mazari was born in 1971 in the small village of Shar Shar in northwestwardern Afghanistan. At 12 years of age, after his family had moved to the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Najaf became an apprentice rugmaker an occupation that conform to his propensity for both creativity and hard change by reversal. Seeing through his apprenticeship and aspiring to make beautiful rugs gave the immature Najaf some respite from the horror of the uninterrupted con? ct around him. In 2001, Najaf ? ed Afghanistan. The Taliban had occupied the north of the country and were carrying out genocide against workforce in Mazar-e-Sharif. Najaf was captured, tortured and narrowly escaped death before his family paid a people moon-curser to convey him out of the country. Najaf reluctantly left his family and his beloved homeland, and embarked on a desperate journey to Australia. He was detained in the Woomera detainment Centr e musical composition his application for refugee status was processed. He then settled in Melbourne, where he opened a rug shop.In 2006, Najafs wife and daughter were given permission by the Australian g overnment to join him in Australia. He was granted Australian citizenship in 2007. The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif is Najafs memoir of living with con? ict and of enduring its far-reaching consequences. Melbourne-based ? ction writer and biographer Robert Hillman helps Najaf tell his story. Hillmans collaboration with Najaf on The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif continues his literary preoccupation with the hardships and triumphs of ordinary people caught up in war and governmental unrest.Hillmans 2007 biography, My Life as a Traitor, tells the story of Zarha Ghahramani, a juvenile Iranian woman who was imprisoned, tortured and persecuted after participating in scholarly person protests at Tehran University. Hillman, who met Zarha while he was working as a journalist in Iran, support ed her through her settlement as a refugee in Australia. His articles about refugees have been published in a figure of speech of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times and The Australian. My Life as a Traitor has been published in the United States and the United Kingdom and was nominated for the 2008 Insight Publications 2010 2 Prime Ministers Literary Award. Like The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif, Mazar-e-Sharif My Life as a Traitor contains thoughtful meditations on Zarhas culture, which ensures that the book provides something more than a grim and shocking portrayal of war and suffering. Hillmans autobiography, The male child in the Green Suit (2003), a memoir about his get journey through the Middle East as a teenager, win the 2005 National Biography Prize. The text was praised for its artfulness, evocation of restlessness, humour and optimism. His ? ction has also been widely praised.It includes A Life of Days (1988), The Hour of Disguise (1990), Writing sp arrow Hill (1996) and The Deepest Part of the Lake (2001). An experienced teacher and university lecturer, Hillman also writes educational texts for sustainary-school audiences. Synopsis Najafs life begins in the small village of Shar Shar in Union Afghanistan, a place of hilly pastures, sunshine, snow, and bright green grass in spring. Najaf works as a shepherd boy, responsible for protecting the familys ? ock from wolves. Going to school comes second to his shepherding duties.When Najaf is eight his father dies and the family (now headed by Najafs much-loved eldest brother, Gorg Ali) moves north to the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Gorg Ali arranges an apprenticeship for Najaf when he pieces 12 and is no longer, indoors Afghani culture, a boy he is a young man ready to learn a trade. Najaf is ? rst apprenticed to a blacksmith, but ? nds the work tedious and deeply unsatisfying. He secretly abandons his job to begin an apprenticeship under a master rugmaker. He quickly comes to love rugmaking and his passion for it offers a sanctuary from the war that rages around him.His work, however, does not shield him from the reality of con? ict. War in? icts terrible personal costs on young Najaf. Gorg Ali is gunned down in a battle between Russian and mujahedin soldiers in Shar Shar. Najafs younger brother, Rosal Ali, is killed when a trench mortar shell explodes over the family home in the mid(prenominal)dle of the night. Najaf is injured in the attack and his apprenticeship jeopardised because the affront to his leg takes many months to heal. Najaf is just 13 when he endures these terrible experiences. Insight Publications 2010 3Although he is a civilian and remains staunchly opposed to force play throughout his life, con? ict continues to impact upon Najaf during adulthood. In 1998, the Taliban invade Mazar-e-Sharif. The Taliban massacre men and boys of Najafs Hazara clan and then capture and torture any survivors they ? nd. nowadays married with a baby daughter , Najaf is kidnapped and whipped with cables. However, to his and his familys disbelief, he is released. Knowing he will not be so lucky a second magazine, Najaf escapes Afghanistan, putting his life in the hands of a people smuggler.The dangerous journey takes him through Afghanistan to Pakistan, then on to Indonesia and towards Australia on a sad boat. The boat eventually becomes stranded on Ashmore Reef, north of Australia. Najaf, along with other asylum seekers on board, is rescued by the Australian navy and conveyed to Woomera Detention Centre. Here, Najaf endures the ordeal of waiting, his fate resting with immigration of? cials who will decide whether he has legal reason to stay in Australia. After months of detainment, Najaf is granted refugee status. He begins a life in Melbourne and, through hard work and hope, establishes a rug-selling business.More faithful news comes when Najaf is granted Permanent Residency Status, which not only means he lowlife stay in Australia for good, but also that his wife, Hakima, and daughter, Maria, can move to Australia and join him in Melbourne. Overwhelmed by happiness and appreciation of the on the face of it impossible things that have happened, Najaf thanks God for his good fortune and promises to suppose and honour those Afghanis who were not able to survive the countrys vehement con? icts. Character summaries Najaf Mazari The central character and narrator. The narrator is in his mid 30s when he tells his story.Najaf is a young boy, teenager and young man in the story. He is less than eight years old when working as a shepherd boy in Shar Shar and about 12 when he begins his rugmaking apprenticeship. Insight Publications 2010 4 Gorg Ali Najafs much admired eldest brother. In keeping with Afghani tradition, Gorg Ali takes over as head of the family when Najafs father dies. Gorg Ali is a gentle man who believes that ? ghting is senseless and futile. He works as a tinsmith and a beekeeper. Gorg Ali is kille d by a stray dope when he goes to tend the family beehives near Shar Shar. Abdul Ali Najafs second-eldest brother.When Gorg Ali dies, Abdul Ali becomes the head of the family and bears the ? nancial burden that results from the mortar attack on the familys home. Abdul Ali is more hot-headed than Gorg Ali and subjects Najaf to several blows about the head when he discovers Najaf has secretly quit his job as a blacksmith. Abdul Ali is a butcher. Rosal Ali Najafs younger brother. Rosal Ali is hopelessly irresponsible, mischievous and cheeky. He often provokes Najafs anger. Najaf, as the older brother, lectures Rosal Ali. Rosal Ali is killed when the Mazaris home is destroyed in the mortar attack.Najafs give An important member of the Mazari family. Najafs mother has the ? nal say on her sons marriage plans and rules the inside of the house in confederation with the head of the family. In turn, Najaf is respectful to his mother and often acts protectively towards her. Najaf sees his mother (and the rest of his family) on a number of occasions after release Afghanistan, when he undertakes rug-buying trips to Pakistan. Hakima Najafs wife. She is the same age as Najaf they marry at the age of 27. Hakima stays in Pakistan between 2001, when Najaf ? es Afghanistan, and 2006, when she is granted permission by the Australian government to join Najaf in Australia. Insight Publications 2010 5 Maria Najaf and Hakimas daughter. Maria is just a baby when Najaf sends her and Hakima to rubber eraser in Pakistan. She is reunited with her father ? ve years later. Robin An Australian woman who becomes Najafs closest friend in Australia. She helps Najaf learn English and holds a caller to celebrate his achievements in his new home. Colin A Melbourne rug dealer who helps Najaf with his business. He drives Najaf to the airport to be reunited with Hakima and Maria. Insight Publications 2010 BACKGROUND & CONTEXT Con? ict in Afghanistan Najafs homeland has a long history of viol ent and erosive armed con? ict that spans centuries. This is partly due to the regions geography. As Najaf says, just look at the location of Afghanistan on a map of Asia and the Middle East, with neighbours and near-neighbours like Russia, Pakistan and Iran (p. 34). The area has enormous geographical and strategic signi? cance. abroad powers, from the ancient Macedonians through to the colonial British and communist Russians, have striven to capture territory or allies there, with little regard for the desires of the local people.Anger towards alien invaders is evident in Najafs observation that Afghanistan and Afghanis were supposed to ? t into the semipolitical strategies of the powerful (p. 35). Afghanis tried to ? ght off invaders, and also fought each other as various tribal and ethnic groups each attempted to stake out their own parcels of territory. In the period from 1973 to 2000, ? ve separate con? icts took place in Afghanistan, including civil wars (armed con? ict b etween opposing parties within one country) and planetary wars (armed con? ct between two or more countries). This specially turbulent period commenced when Mohammad Daoud Khan assumed power in a military coup. Daoud failed to deliver much-needed economic and social reform and was ultimately overthrown in a second coup in 1978. This uprising was led by the Marxist Nur Mohammad Taraki, who implemented a liberal and socialist agenda, replacing apparitional and handed-down laws with secular, Marxist ones. Taraki was soon ousted by Ha? zullah Amin, who was in turn replaced in yet another coup by Babrak Karmal.Najaf recalls that, by the time he was 13, Afghanistan had been ruled by four presidents, all of whom represented the commie Party (pp. 14950). Karmal was supported by the Russian government, or controlled by it, as Najaf suggests (p. 11), and continued to implement Marxist reforms. While many people in the cities either approved of these changes or were ambivalent about them, many traditional and conservative Afghanis in villages and rural areas were bitterly opposed. Opposition groups, known as mujahedin (holy Muslim warrior), began to form. The Insight Publications 2010